This invention pertains to an ankle support of the type that may be removably laced on and about a person's ankle and foot.
Ankle sprains are a common injury in many types of sports. The usual sprain results from inward turning of the foot which ruptures the connections between various lateral ligaments that connect the foot and leg bones at the ankle joint.
One of the most common current methods of protecting against such an injury, or of strenthening an ankle already weakened by such an injury, is so-called taping. Taping, properly done, is an art, is extremely time consuming, and can be very costly. The cost of taping is measured not only by the time spent by the person doing the taping, but also by the enormous amount of tape which is used, and after use discarded.
Attempts have been made to provide lace-on type ankle supports, but in virtually every instance such prior art devices, while perhaps somewhat minimizing the chance of sprain injury to an ankle, have unpleasantly and unnecessarily restricted ankle and foot movement.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a novel ankle support which both protects an ankle against sprain injury, and yet simultaneously permits substantially full freedom of movement of a foot.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an ankle support is proposed which includes a pliable singlepiece jacket that is fittable about a person's foot and ankle. Joined to opposite sides of the jacket are elongated stiffening strips which define generally inverted-T-shaped stiffened regions in such sides. The support is laterally symmetrical, and may be used on either a left or a right foot. It is secured in place by lacing. A single seam, which joins a pair of edges in the jacket, is positioned, for wearing comfort reasons, to lie beneath a person's foot with the jacket fitted in place. The stiffening strips mentioned are so oriented that, with a jacket in place, these strips are aligned generally with key natural ligaments in an ankle, and particularly with natural ligaments on the lateral side of an ankle, whereby the strips reinforce these ligaments.
Importantly, the jacket and stiffening strips do not have a splinting effect at the ankle joint, and hence do not appreciably restrict normal foot movement.
Fitting and securing of a support is a matter which can be accomplished extremely quickly and by the wearer himself. Hence, the negative cost and time factors attending taping are avoided.